Vehicular center cluster panel

ABSTRACT

A center cluster panel  2  is formed with a projected portion  20  including an upper panel  21  extended to a vehicle rear side and disposed at an uppermost portion thereof, a curved face panel  22  connected to a rear portion of the upper panel  21  and directed to a vehicle front side by being bent from the connected portion  24 , and a lower panel  23  connected to the curved face panel  22 , extended to a front side and disposed on a vehicle lower side of the upper panel  21 . The upper panel  21  and the lower panel  23  are formed such that respective wall thicknesses t 1  and t 2  are uniform. The wall thickness t 1  of the upper panel  21  is made to be thicker than the wall thickness t 2  of the lower panel  23 . The curved face panel  22  is formed such that a wall thickness t 3  thereof is equal to the wall thickness t 1  of the upper panel  21  at the portion  24  connected with the upper panel  21  and formed such that the more proximate to the lower panel  23  from the connected portion  24 , the more thinned the wall thickness t 3  gradually.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a center cluster panel constituting aportion of an instrument panel of a vehicle.

2. Description of the Related Art

As described in, for example, Patent Reference 1, an instrument panelarranged on front sides of a driver seat and a passenger seat of avehicle is attached with a center cluster panel made of a resin providedwith various instruments and switches. FIG. 9 is a sectional viewshowing a sectional structure of an example of the center cluster panel.

As shown by FIG. 9, a center cluster panel 102 is formed with acontaining portion 111 for containing, for example, a display panel of acar navigation system or an audio apparatus, and an attaching portion112 for attaching an operation dial of an air conditioner. Further, thecenter cluster panel 102 is formed with a projected portion 120projected to a rear side of a vehicle at an upper portion thereof. Theprojected portion 120 is constituted by an upper panel 121 extended to arear side of the vehicle and disposed at an uppermost portion of thecluster panel 102, a curved face panel 122 connected to a portion on arear side of the vehicle of the upper panel 121 and directed to a frontside of the vehicle by being bent from a connected portion 124 of thesame, and a lower panel 123 connected to the curved face panel, extendedto the front side of the vehicle and disposed on a lower side of thevehicle of the upper panel 121. The projected portion 120 functions asan “eaves” for restraining outer light of the vehicle from beingdirectly incident on a display or the like disposed on a lower sidethereof to deteriorate an optical recognizability thereof, further,contributes to also promotion of a beautiful outlook of the centercluster panel 102.

Meanwhile, when a passenger falls to the front side of the vehicle inimpacting the vehicle, there is a concern that the head portion of thepassenger is brought into contact with the projected portion 120 of thecenter cluster panel 102. Therefore, according to the center clusterpanel 102, a wall thickness thereof is set such that even when the headportion of the passenger is brought into contact with the projectedportion 120 in impacting the vehicle, a rigidity substantially capableof absorbing the impact by deforming the projected portion 120 isprovided.

Patent Reference 1: JP-A-2003-146111

Meanwhile, in recent years, in order to achieve light-weighted formationof the vehicle, it is desired to make a wall thickness of a centercluster panel as thin as possible including the above-describedprojected portion. However, when the wall thickness of the centercluster panel, particularly, the wall thickness of the projected portionhaving a possibility of being brought into contact with the passenger issimply made thin uniformly, the rigidity is reduced and there is aconcern of bringing about a crack at the projected portion by bringingthe head portion of the passenger into contact with the projectedportion in impacting the vehicle. Further, when the crack is broughtabout at the projected portion in this way, there is a concern ofdeteriorating an impact absorbing function of the projected portion asdescribed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention has been carried out in view of the actual situation andit is an object thereof to provide a vehicular center cluster panelcapable of maintaining an impact absorbing function in impacting avehicle of a projected portion while achieving light-weighted formationby making a wall thickness as thin as possible.

Means for resolving the problem and operation and effect thereof will bedescribed as follows.

A first aspect of the invention constitutes a gist thereof by a centercluster panel made of a resin attached to a center portion in a vehiclewidth direction of an instrument panel of a vehicle formed with aprojected portion including an upper panel extended to a rear side ofthe vehicle and disposed at a topmost portion of the center clusterpanel, a curved face panel connected to a rear side portion of thevehicle of the upper panel and directed to a front side of the vehicleby being bent from the connected portion, and a lower panel connected tothe curved face panel, extended to a front side of the vehicle anddisposed on a lower side of the vehicle of the upper panel, wherein theupper panel and the lower panel are formed such that respective wallthicknesses thereof become uniform, the wall thickness of the upperpanel is set to be thicker than the wall thickness of the lower panel, awall thickness of the curved face panel is formed to be equal to thewall thickness of the upper panel at the connected portion with theupper panel and the wall thickness is formed such that the moreproximate to the lower panel from the connected portion, the thinner thewall thickness gradually.

According to the constitution, with regard to the upper panel having ahigh possibility of being brought into contact with the head portion ofthe passenger fallen to the front side in impacting the vehicle, a wallthickness thereof is set to be thicker than the wall thickness of thelower panel having a low possibility of the contact. Therefore, therigidity of the upper panel is ensured even when light-weightedformation of the center cluster panel is achieved by thinning the wallthickness of the projected portion, and therefore, a crack is notbrought about when the head portion of the passenger is brought intocontact therewith and an impact force thereof can preferably beabsorbed.

Further, in a case in which a constitution in which the wall thicknessof the projected portion partially differs is adopted at the centercluster panel in this way, when a portion of significantly changing thewall thickness is present, in a case of bringing the head portion of thepassenger and the upper panel into contact with each other in impactingthe vehicle, there is a concern that a stress is concentrated on theportion by an impact force and crack is brought about at the portion.Further, when crack is brought about at the projected portion of thecenter cluster panel, there is a concern of reducing the impactabsorbing function of the projected portion.

In this respect, according to the above-described constitution, there isnot a portion of rapidly changing the wall thickness in the curved facepanel of connecting the upper panel and the lower panel having differentwall thicknesses, and therefore, the above-described stressconcentration can be restrained from being brought about and it canpreferably be avoided that the impact absorbing function of theprojected portion is reduced owing to an occurrence of the crack.

Further, by setting the wall thickness of the curved face panel in thisway, the more proximate the portion of the curved face panel to thelower panel, that is, the more at the portion having a low possibilityof being brought into contact with the head portion of the passenger inimpacting the vehicle, the thinner the wall thickness is set, andtherefore, light-weighted formation of the center cluster panel canpreferably be achieved while maintaining the impact absorbing functionof the projected portion.

A second of the invention constitutes a gist thereof by that the wallthickness of the curved face panel is formed to be equal to the wallthickness of the lower panel at a center portion between the upper paneland the lower panel in the vehicular center cluster panel.

As described above, the more proximate the portion of the curved facepanel to the upper panel, the higher the possibility of being broughtinto contact with the head portion of the passenger in impacting thevehicle. In other words, the more proximate the portion of the curvedface panel to the lower panel, the lower the possibility of beingbrought into contact with the head portion of the passenger in impactingthe vehicle. Therefore, as in the constitution described, whereas withregard to the portion of the curved face panel on the side of the upperpanel from the center portion, the more proximate to the upper panel,the thicker the wall thickness of the portion, with regard to theportion on the side of the lower panel from the center portion, bymaking the wall thickness equal to that of the lower panel to be thinnedrelatively, the rigidity can be ensured in conformity with the mode ofbeing brought into contact with the head portion of the passenger inimpacting the vehicle while achieving light-weighted formation of thecenter cluster panel.

As described above, according to the vehicular center cluster panelaccording to the invention, the impact absorbing function of theprojected portion in impacting the vehicle can be maintained whileachieving light-weighted formation by making the wall thickness as thinas possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 (a) is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of avehicular center cluster panel according to an embodiment of theinvention and (b) is a sectional view taken along a line B-B of theperspective view.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line A-A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a distribution of a wall thickness of aprojected portion of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an operation of the vehicular centercluster panel of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing a partial sectional structureof a modified example of the vehicular center cluster panel according tothe invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a distribution of a wall thickness of aprojected portion of the modified example.

FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view showing a partial sectional structureof other modified example of the vehicular center cluster panelaccording to the invention.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing a distribution of a wall thickness of aprojected portion of the other modified example.

FIG. 9 is a partial sectional view showing a partial sectional structureof a center cluster of a background art.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of a vehicular center cluster panel (hereinafter, simplyreferred to as center cluster panel) according to the invention will beexplained in reference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 4 as follows. Further, inthe embodiment, as a material of forming the center cluster panel, aresin material excellent in an impact absorbing property is adopted.Specifically, as physical properties of the material, it is preferablethat an elastic modulus of bending at 23° C. is 2500 MPa through 3300MPa, a measured value by Izod test at 23° C. is 20 J/m through 260 J/mand a melt mass flow rate (MFR) is 30 through 60 g/10 min (furtherpreferably, 40 through 50 g/10 min). As a material for realizing thephysical properties of the material, it is preferable to constitute amajor component by, for example, block polypropylene (block PP), whichis added with rubber (SEBS, EP, EBM) and talc by pertinent weight %.Examples of the blend material and a blend rate thereof are respectivelyshown in Tables 1 and 2. Here, as talc, mixed talc of an averageparticle size of 4 through 5 μm mixed with talc of a particle size of 1μm and talc of a particle size of 4 through 5 μm is adopted.

TABLE 1 blend material blend rate (weight %) block PP (MFR 100) 44-67SEBS  5-20 EP EBM talc (average particle size 4-5 μm) 28-36

TABLE 2 blend material blend rate (weight %) block PP (MFR 100) 39-62homo PP  5-15 SEBS  5-20 EP EBM talc (particle size 4-5 μm) 28-36

FIG. 1( a) is a perspective view showing a perspective structure of acenter cluster panel according to the embodiment and FIG. 1( b) is asectional view taken along a line B-B of the perspective view. Further,FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line A-A of FIG. 1.

As shown by FIG. 1( a), a center cluster panel 2 is formed with acontaining portion 11 for containing a display of a car navigationsystem, attaching portions 12A and 12B for attaching an operation dialof an air conditioner and the like. Further, as shown by FIG. 2, thecenter cluster panel 2 is formed with a projected portion 20 projectedin a vehicle rear direction at an upper portion thereof. The projectedportion 20 is constituted by an upper panel 21 extended in the vehiclerear direction and disposed at an uppermost portion of the centercluster panel 2, a curved face panel 22 connected to a vehicle rearportion of the upper panel 21 and directed in a vehicle front directionby being bent from a connected portion 24 of the same, and a lower panel2 connected to the curved face panel 22, extended in the vehicle frontdirection and disposed on a vehicle lower side of the upper panel 21. Asshown by FIG. 1( b), the upper panel 21 thereamong is formed such thatthe more proximate to a center position in a vehicle width direction,the more vehicle upper side the portion is disposed. Further, as shownby FIG. 2, the upper panel 21 is formed by a curved face of a curvatureextremely smaller than that of the curved face panel 22. Further, asshown by FIG. 2, the upper panel 21 is attached to an instrument panelin a mode in which a vehicle front side thereof is inclined to a vehicleupper side. Further, a lower panel 23 is attached to the instrumentpanel in a mode in which a vehicle front side thereof is inclined to avehicle lower side. That is, the upper panel 21 and the lower panel 23are arranged such that the more on the vehicle rear side, the moreproximate the panels to each other. Further, as shown by a two-dottedchain line in FIG. 2, the display of the car navigation system iscontained to a lower side of the projected portion 20.

Meanwhile, in order to achieve light-weighted formation of a vehicle,the center cluster panel 2 including the above-described projectedportion 20 is formed such that a wall thickness thereof becomesextremely thin. However, with regard to the projected portion 20particularly having a possibility of being brought into contact with apassenger, when the wall thickness is uniformly thinned, a rigiditythereof is reduced, and there is a concern that crack is brought aboutat the projected portion 20 by bringing the head portion of thepassenger into contact with the projected portion 20 in impacting thevehicle.

Hence, the upper panel 21 and the lower panel 23 are formed such thatwall thicknesses t1 and t2 thereof are respectively uniform, and thewall thickness t1 (for example 1.5 mm) of the upper panel 21 is set tobe thicker than the wall thickness t2 (for example, 1.0 mm) of the lowerpanel 23 (t1>t2). Thereby, the rigidity of the upper panel 21 ispromoted while achieving light-weighted formation by making the wallthickness t2 of the lower panel 23 as thin as possible. Further, thewall thickness t1 of the upper panel 21 and the wall thickness t2 of thelower panel 23 are not limited to 1.5 mm and 1.0 mm but so far as alarge or small relationship of t1>t2 is satisfied, the wall thickness t1of the upper panel 21 can pertinently be set to a range of 1.2 mmthrough 2.5 mm and the wall thickness t2 of the lower panel 23 canpertinently be set to a range of 0.8 mm through 1.5 mm.

Meanwhile, in a case in which a constitution of setting the wallthickness t1 of the upper panel 21 thicker than the wall thickness t2 ofthe lower panel 23, that is, a constitution in which the wall thicknessof the projected portion 20 partially differs in the center clusterpanel 2 in this way, when a portion of considerably changing the wallthickness is present, in a case of bringing the head portion PH of thepassenger and the upper panel 21 or the curved face panel 22 intocontact with each other in impacting the vehicle, there is a concernthat a stress is concentrated on the portion by an impact force andcrack is brought about at the portion.

Hence, the above-described stress concentration is restrained from beingbrought about by setting a wall thickness t3 of the curved face panel 22and a wall thickness distribution thereof as follows. That is, as shownby FIG. 3, the curved face panel 22 is formed such that the wallthickness t3 is equal to the wall thickness t1 (=t3) of the upper panel21 at a portion 24 thereof connected to the upper panel 21. Further, thecurved face panel 22 is formed such that the more proximate to the lowerpanel 23 from the connected portion 24 of the upper panel 21, the morethinned the wall thickness t3 gradually. Further, the curved face panel22 is formed such that the wall thickness t3 is equal to the wallthickness t2 (=t3) of the lower panel 23 at a center portion 22C betweenthe upper panel 21 and the lower panel 23. Further, the curved facepanel 22 is formed such that a wall thickness from the center portion22C to a portion 25 thereof connected with the lower panel 23 is equalto the wall thickness of the lower panel 23 and uniform. By theconstitution, the portion of considerably changing the wall thickness isnot present at the projected portion 20.

Meanwhile, the projected portion 20 is formed to project to the vehiclerear side at the upper portion of the center cluster panel 2, andtherefore, the more vehicle upper side of the projected portion 20 theportion is disposed, the higher the possibility of being brought intocontact with the head portion of the passenger in impacting the vehicle.That is, the possibility of being brought into contact with the headportion PH of the passenger becomes higher in an order of the lowerpanel 23, the curved face panel 23 and the upper panel 21 the projectedportion 20. Further, when further describing the curved face panel 22,whereas the more proximate to the upper panel 21 the portion, the higherthe possibility of being brought into contact with the head portion PHof the passenger, the more proximate to the lower panel 23 the portion,the lower the possibility of being brought into contact with the headportion PH of the passenger. Although the possibility is low whencompared with the lower panel 23 in this way, also with regard to thecurved face panel 22, similar to the upper panel 21, there is apossibility of being brought into contact with the head portion PH ofthe passenger. Therefore, in consideration thereof, it is necessary alsofor the curved face panel 22 to set the rigidity higher than that of thelower panel 23 similar to the upper panel 21. However, the curved facepanel 22 is constituted by the bent curved face, and therefore, incomparison with the upper panel 21 or the lower panel 23 constituted bya curved face of a curvature smaller than that of the curved face panel22, when the thickness stays the same, the rigidity is increased.Therefore, even when the wall thickness t3 of the curved face panel 22becomes gradually thin to the wall thickness t2 of the lower panel 23 byconstituting a reference by the wall thickness t1 of the upper panel 21,the rigidity is not extremely reduced and the rigidity of the curvedface panel 22 becomes higher than that of the lower panel 23.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sectional shape of the projected portion20 before and after impact of the head portion PH of the passenger.Further, in the drawing, a bold line indicates an example of thesectional shape of the projected portion 20 after impact and atwo-dotted chain line indicates the sectional shape of the projectedportion 20 after impact.

As shown by the bold line of FIG. 4, when the head portion PH of thepassenger is impacted to the curved face panel 22, the curved face panel22 is deformed such that a curvature thereof is increased and a centerportion thereof is projected in the vehicle rear direction, and theupper panel 21 is displaced to sink to the vehicle lower side.Therefore, there is not brought about a local deformation of inducing tobring about crack in accordance with the deformation of the upper panel21. Further, although with regard to the curved face panel 22, therigidity is made to be lower than that of the upper panel 21, therigidity higher than that of the lower panel 23 is ensured. Therefore,even when the upper panel 21 is deformed to the vehicle lower side asdescribed above, crack is not brought about in accordance therewith.

According to the vehicular center cluster panel according to theembodiment explained above, advantages enumerated below are achieved.

(1) The upper panel 21 and the lower panel 23 are formed such that therespective wall thicknesses become uniform and the wall thickness of theupper panel 21 is set to be thickener than the wall thickness of thelower panel 23. That is, with regard to the upper panel 21 having thehigh possibility of being brought into contact with the head portion PHof the passenger fallen to the front side in impacting the vehicle, thewall thickness is set to be thicker than that of the lower panel 23having the low possibility of the contact. Therefore, even whenlight-weighted formation of the center cluster panel 2 is achieved bythinning the wall thickness of the projected portion 20, with regard tothe upper panel 21, the rigidity is ensured, and therefore, crack is notbrought about when the upper panel 21 is brought into contact with thehead portion PH of the passenger and an impact force can preferably beabsorbed.(2) The curved face panel 22 is formed such that the wall thickness isequal to the upper panel 21 at the connected portion 24 of the upperpanel 21 and formed such that the more proximate to the lower panel 23from the connected portion 24, the more thinned the wall thicknessgradually. Thereby, the above-described stress concentration can berestrained from being brought about and the impact absorbing function ofthe projected portion 20 can preferably be avoided from being reducedowing to occurrence of crack. Further, by setting the wall thickness ofthe curved face panel 22 in this way, the more proximate to the lowerpanel 23 the portion in the curved face panel 22, that is, the lower thepossibility of being brought into contact with the head portion PH ofthe passenger in impacting the vehicle at the portion, the thinner thewall thickness is set, and therefore, light-weighted formation of thecenter cluster panel 2 can preferably be achieved by maintaining theimpact absorbing function of the projected portion 20.(3) The curved face panel 22 is formed such that at the center portion22C between the upper panel 21 and the lower panel 23, the wallthickness is equal to that of the lower panel 23. That is, whereas withregard to the portion of the curved face panel 22 on the side of theupper panel 21 from the center portion 22C, the more proximate to theupper panel 21, the thicker the wall thickness, with regard to theportion on the side of the lower panel 23 from the center portion 22C,the wall thickness is made to be equal to that of the lower panel 23 tobe thinned relatively. Thereby, while achieving light-weighted formationof the center cluster panel 2, the rigidities of the upper panel 21 andthe curved face panel 22 can be ensured and the impact absorbingfunction can be maintained in the form in conformity with a mode ofbeing brought into contact with the head portion PH of the passenger inimpacting the vehicle.(4) The upper panel 21 is provided with a shape of being bent graduallyin the vehicle width direction, that is, a shape in which the moreproximate to the center position in the vehicle width direction theportion, the more disposed to the vehicle upper side, and therefore, forexample, in comparison with the constitution of constituting the shapeby a shape of a complete plane, the rigidity becomes high. Therefore,also in this respect, the impact force can preferably be absorbed whilerestraining occurrence of crack. Further, when the head portion PH ofthe passenger is brought into contact therewith, the impact force canpreferably be absorbed without bringing about crack. Further, the upperpanel 21 is constituted by the shape in which the center portion is bentto be disposed on the vehicle upper side, and therefore, an amount ofcapable of deforming the center portion of the upper panel 21 in whichthere is a concern the most that the portion is brought into contactwith the head portion PH of the passenger becomes larger than that ofother portion. Therefore, the impact force can further effectively beabsorbed.(5) As the molding material of the center cluster panel 2, particularly,the material having the physical properties that the elastic modulus ofbending at 23° C. is 2500 MPa through 3300 MPa and a measured value byIzod test at 23° C. is 200 J/m through 260 J/m is adopted. Thereby, theimpact absorbing property of the center cluster panel 2 can be promoted.(6) When the wall thickness of the center cluster panel 2 is made to beas thin as about 1.0 mm in the embodiment, in comparison with the caseof the wall thickness of, for example, about 3 mm, the fluidity of theresin material in molding is deteriorated to pose a problem of anincrease in a time period required for molding the resin or an increasein a failure rate of a molded product. In this respect, according to theembodiment, as a material of molding the center cluster panel 2,particularly, the material having the physical property that the meltmass flow rate (MFR) is 40 through 50 g/10 min is adopted. Thereby, thefluidity of the resin material can be promoted and even when a flowlength or a flow area of the resin material is increased, the increasein the time period required for molding the resin can be restrained andthe increase in the failure rate of the molded product can berestrained.(7) As talc blended to the resin material, mixed talc of an averageparticle size of 4 through 5 μm mixed with talc of a particle size of 1μm and talc of a particle size of 4 through 5 μm is adopted. Thereby,the elastic modulus of bending and the measured value by Izod test canbe promoted. Further, the mixed talc is constituted by talc of theparticle size of 1 μm significantly contributing to the physicalproperty of the material and talc of the particle size of 4 through 5 μmwhich is generally more inexpensive than talc of the particle size of 1μm, and therefore, cost can be restrained to be low while realizing thephysical property of the material.

Further, the vehicular center cluster panel according to the inventionis not limited to a constitution exemplified in the embodiment but canbe embodied as, for example, a mode as follows of pertinently changingthe constitution.

Although according to the embodiment, the curved face panel 22 is formedsuch that at the center portion 22C between the upper panel 21 and thelower panel 23, the wall thickness t3 is equal to the wall thickness t2of the lower panel 23, a mode of setting the wall thickness t3 of thecurved face panel 22 is not limited thereto. Otherwise, as shown by FIG.5 and FIG. 6, a wall thickness t3 of a curved face panel 222 can also beset such that the more proximate to the lower panel 223, the morethinned the wall thickness t3 gradually from a portion 224 thereofconnected with an upper panel 221 over to a portion 225 thereofconnected with the lower panel 223 and the wall thickness t3 becomesequal to a wall thickness t2 of the lower panel 223 at the connectedportion 225 of the lower panel 223.

Further, on the other hand, as shown by FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a wallthickness t3 of a curved face panel 322 can also be set such that themore proximate to the lower panel 323, the more thinned the wallthickness t3 gradually from a portion 324 thereof connected with anupper panel 321 over to a portion 322A on a side of the upper panel 321of a center portion 322C between the upper panel 321 and the lower panel323, at the portion 322A, the wall thickness t3 becomes equal to a wallthickness t2 of the lower panel 223. In sum, the upper panel and thelower panel may be formed such that the respective wall thicknessesbecome uniform, the upper panel may be formed such that the wallthickness is set to be thicker than that of the lower panel, the curvedface panel may be formed such that the wall thickness becomes equal tothat of the upper panel at the connected portion with the upper panel,and may be formed such that the more proximate to the lower panel fromthe connected portion the more thinned the wall thickness gradually.

Further, the rigidity of the projected portion may further be adjustedin the form in conformity with the mode of being brought into contactwith the head portion of the passenger in impacting the vehicle bypertinently forming a rib connecting the upper panel and the lower panelbetween the upper panel and the lower panel. Further, in this case, itis preferable to form a plurality of ribs in the vehicle width directionextended in a vehicle front and rear direction at inside of theprojected portion.

1. A vehicular center cluster panel that is a center cluster panel madeof a resin and attached to a center portion of an instrument panel of avehicle, the vehicular center cluster panel comprising: a projectedportion, including, an upper panel extended to a rear side of thevehicle and disposed at a topmost portion of the center cluster panel, acurved face panel connected to a rear end of the upper panel at aconnected portion and directed to a front side of the vehicle by beingbent from the connected portion, and a lower panel connected to thecurved face panel, wherein the lower panel is extended toward a front ofthe vehicle and located on a lower side of the upper panel; the upperpanel and the lower panel are formed such that respective wallthicknesses of the upper panel and the lower panel are uniform; the wallthickness of the upper panel is set to be greater than the wallthickness of the lower panel; a wall thickness of the curved face panelis formed to be equal to the wall thickness of the upper panel at theconnected portion; the wall thickness of the curved face panel graduallydecreases in a direction towards the lower panel from the connectedportion; a display is located at a lower side of the upper panel; and ata rear of the display and below the lower panel, the center clusterpanel is constructed to form a space to accommodate downward deformationof the lower panel when an impact is applied to the upper panel by apassenger.
 2. The vehicular center cluster panel according to claim 1,wherein the wall thickness of the curved face panel is formed to beequal to the wall thickness of the lower panel at a location between theupper panel and the lower panel.
 3. The vehicular center cluster panelaccording to claim 1, wherein the wall thickness of the upper panel isin a range of 1.2 mm to 2.5 mm.
 4. The vehicular center cluster panelaccording to claim 1, wherein the wall thickness of the lower panel isin a range of 0.8 mm to 1.5 mm.
 5. The vehicular center cluster panelaccording to claim 1, wherein a distal end of the lower panel, whichextends toward a front of the vehicle, is located directly above thedisplay.